


Burning Want

by StolenVampires



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: (Either Or), F/M, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route Spoilers, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Goddess Byleth, Implied Immortality, M/M, Male My Unit | Byleth, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Post Game, Top Seteth, soft angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 22:53:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20161453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StolenVampires/pseuds/StolenVampires
Summary: Byleth has been suffering from a burning inside their own body that refuses to abate. Eventually, they come to the reality of what it means- and who is it's cause.





	Burning Want

It hurts, in fact, it burns. The pain flares up without fail, like a constant reminder they’re not what they used to be, and now, they must navigate the changes of going from a normal mortal to an immortal goddess. Byleth never wanted to be this, to become all powerful, to have the faith of nations upon them, looking at them like they might offer salvation- they had always wanted to just.. Be. To feel things, to know and exist. It had been simpler that way. It had been an easier life as the ‘Ashen Demon’, killing for money and never staying too long in one place, always moving, always chasing down the next job, the next contract, the next kill.

Killing had once been the only thing they felt- but now?   
Sothis had been a blessing in some ways. She’d helped them understand that feelings existed- they had them, they just needed to accept them, show them- they were human like everyone else. But Sothis had also been frank in her warning. They were different than others- something linked them, something that wasn’t normal, but until they knew, it was best to just try to be human, to be normal- to learn to smile and feel joy.  
To cry when they held their father as he died. 

Yet now, the war over, Byleth was left feeling out of place. Rhea’s actions had come to light and mostly- they felt angry. Angry that their life had been stolen and their fate chosen for them. Sure, they might have died otherwise but still. It wasn’t Rhea’s choice to make. It wasn’t her choice to force Sothis and them to become one. Byleth resented Rhea- they were not Sothis. They would never be Sothis. Serios she might be reborn, but Byleth and Sothis were not the same. They’d not be the goddess Serios wanted, the ‘light’ she demanded exist when humans were to forge their own path. 

The irony was in only that Sothis agreed- humans should forge their own destiny- they should not be held to follow a goddess or die. Freedom was necessary for creation. 

Yet freedom was a lost cause when pain came each time they found themselves in the church. More- when they were close to him.   
It was like fire in their bones, boiling blood and blistering skin- something wanting to break free and just destroy. It wasn’t anger they felt, it wasn’t hate or rage. Nothing at all of the sort. It was just fire- they felt fire when he was near them and it hurt. It hurt because they wanted to grab him and make him burn too.

Yet they held onto their stoic mask, pretending they were fine, that the burning inside them wasn’t eating them alive. They ignored it, pretended it didn’t exist.  
After all, how did you explain the unexplainable, even if they were perhaps one of the few who might understand? 

Seteth after all, knew what they were, what they had become, what Rhea had done to them- and he’d knew the resentment, the anger that lingered and why they avoided the church now, why they shunned the idea of becoming the new arch bishop.   
He knew so much, but they didn’t think they would know about the burning. Much less, why it was only him that made them burn so.

It was by accident later that they found relief. Like a cooling balm on their very soul, they had slept peacefully after, able to ignore the burning ache entirely. Bathing, washing away sweat and the ache of training, fingers brushing over the curls between their legs before going further to clean- a feather light touch to their nerves and their legs shook from the intensity of it. Pleasure so raw and explosive shot up their spine, making them keen unexpectedly. Yet as they trembled in the tub, they noticed the pain ebbed away- each touch made the pain fade, and the pleasure had them biting their lip, holding back wails and cries of want. 

It came like a hammer to the chest, stealing their voice as they silently screamed, shaking as they came, euphoria stealing reason. The pain gone, they laid in the warm water till it was cool, boneless, helpless, yet so blissfully sated.

The burning was gone they noticed, it didn’t linger or stay in those moments of orgasmic afterglow. Later as they laid in bed, they touched themselves again, fingers pulling on their nipples, biting their lips, rubbing between their legs- it was like before, and when their release came and went, they realized who’s face they’d pictured as they’d come.

It was hard to look him in the eye at his lecture. The burning was back, even worse, and they shifted uneasy, knowing the way to relief, but also knowing that something in them connected their burning, their pleasure- to him. After his lecture, Seteth had tried to ask what was distracting them, thinking it was again Rhea’s instistance they become the new arch bishop, which was in a way, now unavoidable. The planned announcement that they were Sothis reborn- but it wasn’t that. It was the burning ache, the fact he touched their shoulder in worry, voice so soothing and holding affection under that concern. It was the fact he smelled of sea wind, and that they wanted to bury their face into his chest and just breathe it in.

They excused themselves, ignoring his lingering gaze, the way his jaw clenched, the way Rhea looked at them from a distance, as is she knew their dirty secret.  
And what a secret it was.

They couldn’t help themselves. His coat was thrown over one of the stable doors, left behind likely by accident. But it smelled of him. Of the sea wind and sweat from training and him- utterly him. So they took it with them back to their room. Hid it under their coat. It was shameful, shoving their face into the fabric, shuddering in pleasure at the smell. It quickly escalated, breathing it in as they touched themselves, cumming harder than ever before, breaking the skin of their lip to muffle the scream of bliss.

They kept his coat, sleeping on it, relishing the scent, hips lifting and shifting as they craved touch. Shamed, embarrassed, the had no answer for the shift to this depravity, only that the burning lessened and worsened because of him. His coat gave a blissful release, a pure reprieve, yet it was followed by pain so intense it made them weep. How they wanted to ask, how they wanted an explaination- but Sothis was silent, telling them they had to figure it out for themselves- after all, they were not stupid. 

They hadn’t a clue.

Not until Rhea had commented on Sothis’s consort. A mystery, she said, yet it was a burning need for another that sent the goddess to another’s side, seeking comfort and a love they lacked. Rhea had been fishing for insight, asking who they liked, no doubt to use them as a mean of control, to keep them in the church. But the truth was terrifying. They knew who Seteth was- Cichol. He wasn’t human but he was no god so why did the burning draw them to him?

The truth was a bitter pill- to admit the attraction, the adoration and one sided love. 

It lasted a whole month. The burning. The pain and agony. All while trying to fight fate and destiny- to deny becoming the new arch bishop, to helping Fodlan become the place it was meant to be- And nothing bu the months end could stave off the pain and agony. Not even touch, and the scent of Seteth’s clothes had long faded. 

Tears ran down their face as they bent over a barn gate, shaking as the burning lanced their spine, muscles seizing and and brain pounding- it was how he found them. Face drenched in sweat, tears running down their cheeks and skin flush as their body felt like it was dying from the inside out.  
“Professor!” His alarm, his voice- it was a drop of cool water on heated skin of the soul and they leaned into him as he asked what was wrong, if they needed a healer- Yet his words soon became white noise, a silence falling over them both.  
“Byleth, Byleth look at me.” His arm hold them up- he was so strong, hiding his strength behind his robes. Hiding the raw power he wielded behind the stern outward priestley persona. His hand cupped their chin, forcing their eyes to try and focus on him.  
“How long has this been happening?” Did he know? Shame burned just as hot at the fire in their body, and they shook their head.  
“Don’t try to deny this- how long?” He knew, and with fresh tears they answered.   
“Over a month.” The curse, an ugly word they thought, on such pretty lips, and Seteth said something about getting them to safety. Arms around them, pulled to an embrace, they fell to slumber, the scent of wind and the sea comforting them.

The scent lingered when they woke.   
How long had they slept? It was hard to say, but it felt like years- longer than the five spent in darkness. Yet they woke without the burning, with a body well rested. Blinking as they opened their eyes, the sight of a room not their own greeted them.  
“Zanado.” His voice echoed on the stone walls. “More specifically, under the old ruins- a place I haven’t been to in a long time.” He was dressed like he normally was, but there was something off, something that made the hair on the back of their neck stand on end. Something that screamed danger.  
“It would have been unwise to stay at Garreg Mach, not to mention I doubted you would enjoy others discovering your condition… though it seems Lady Rhea knew and did not bother to enlighten you as to what is happening.” His voice held the disdain, the annoyance yet again aimed at the once proud Serios. 

Their pain flared briefly, but in that moment, Seteth had crossed the room, drawing them into an embrace.   
The pain stopped as soon as it had begun.  
“Do you have an idea what is happening?” He was being gentle in tone, and that worried them more than anything. They had an idea, but-  
“I don’t want it to be true.” It was a whisper, a fearful confession.  
“Am I so distasteful?” His question was so genuine, so honest- it hurt in a new way.   
“No!” The reply was swift, he wasn’t distasteful at all- in fact he was no doubt very tasty. Very, very tasty. Their mouth watered at the idea of sinking their teeth into his skin, of salty skin and hot blood- the feeling of their cock in their throat, giving them his essence…

“Know this Byleth.” He pulled away, and out of instinct they reached back out for him. “If we start this there is no going back.” His eyes softened. “I am not a man who lets go of that which he loves.”

It was startling- a love confession. They hadn’t a clue. The shock must have shown because he followed it quickly with more words, his hands pulling their clothes from their shoulders, undressing them but not to their skin.  
“I have never been good at expressing myself- but I wanted you to know and have the choice to walk away from it all- the church, Rhea’s plans, your so called fate. So I encouraged you, I wanted you to make their choice on your own terms. I told you before the war ended did I not? You would have me by your side. Only.. it was for more selfish reasons. I fear I might have brought this on us both.”

He was so close, and they couldn’t help it. They knew- they knew and didn’t want it but they did. They wanted it so badly. They had admired him, his honesty, his tenacity, his firm beliefs and morals. His kindness and gentle heart. They wanted him but told themselves no- he wasn’t for them. He wasn’t the type to want a cobbled together person like them.   
“Nabateans used to have elaborate ceremonies dedicated to finding each other, to admitting their feelings- we lived freely, and openly. Once upon a time, this pain, this fire in us was a blessing, a gift to remind us of the passion we feel.” Their hand in his, he held it to his face, and it burned- hot and telling, it was the same heat they felt.  
“It had been so long I’d almost forgotten the feeling. But I held it back- I knew how to. I was raised knowing, you… you were not, and so you suffered. We suffered.” His body leaned further over them, pushing back into the bed of blankets and pillows.

“The flames only burn for the one we desire- and only fade when two become one. Such was our way, such was our nature.” He hovered above them waiting, wanting to have permission- they understood the reason if his hesitance. It was a lot to tell, a lot to process- being a goddess reborn.  
“I felt it months ago- and I repressed it. If you have only been feeling this a month.” Playfulness, his lips so near. Begging to be kissed, bitten, to hear their name on his lips-  
“Then I take it your feelings for me have been going longer- but your desire for me is much newer.” So blase, their entire being throbbed in want.   
“Yes-” The admission, a confession. “I wanted- I didn’t want to. I didn’t think it right, that you’d want me and-”

It was heaven. Bliss. Lips so hot yet so cool. The gentle press of skin to skin, brief.   
“Know this.” His eyes were heavy, dark with a sight they’d never seen on Seteth before. “I want you. All of you. Completely. Arch bishop or not. Sothis reborn or not. I want you.” His tongue came out to wet his lips. “I want to make you mine. In every.” His hands on their body, pulling at clothes. “Possible.” the keen of happiness as his hands found skin, soothing the ache so long felt. “Way.” A kiss, hungry and lustful, tongues dances in their mouths as they tasted each other for the first time. 

Mate. That was what this was. The need to mate, to find a partner, a match- Inside, they could feel Sothis, pleased at the knowledge. They had once sought another- and they felt Seteth would be suitable for them. After all, Sothis had nothing to do with the feelings the had for the man, or the lust they felt. That was them. All them.

“Seteth- I-” They swallowed, wanting to know if it was taboo, if it was something unspoken or wanted. “Cichol?” The name was not familiar, and it felt odd in their mouth. A sentiment shared it would seem, and the man above them growled, something dark and primal.   
“No- I have not been that man for many years.” Hot, open mouth kisses ran across their collar, tiny love bites in the form of small red welts where blood rose to the surface of the skin.   
“Seteth.” His name- his name that was so good to say, so soft and sweet on their tongue as he kissed them again, slow, sensual with eyes closed and hands running over each other, exploring what had yet to be known. 

Hands ran under cloth, hunting down skin that was a balm on their own burning flesh. One kiss melted into another, their bodies moving in a dance well known by all. Clothes stripped away, layer by layer until the press of breast to breast made them shudder in delight. Seteth felt wonderful against them. So much taller- bigger. His muscles well hidden under his robes he was a man who’d been raised fighting and in a war. His arms and hand held devastating strength, and the image of him wielding his spear and cutting down his foes made their core throb- desire pulsing through them.  
His chuckle draw them back from their thoughts. “And what pray tell were you thinking of?” His fingers danced on their hip, one arm under his head as he laid beside them. Shy, the sudden gravity of their nudity hit them, eyes looking away as a blush bloomed over their face and ran down their neck.   
“Don’t deny it.” His voice a dark whisper, “I felt your pulse… and I am beginning to smell you as well.” The felt more embarrassed at the thought of being scented- but it was logical in a way. Given what Seteth was. What they too, know were.   
“Come.” Teeth pulled on their ear, earning Seteth a gasp and shift, pushing away trying to escape his touch- but his grip on their hip had moved to their back, not letting them go.   
“Tell me.” His teeth on their ear was torment. Teasing- they hated how their ears were slowly changing to be pointed- and wondered if the sensitivity was a side effect.

“I-” His thumb ran circles at their back, coaxing out words. “I was thinking of you- in battle. With your spear. How… how handsome you look when-”  
“When what?” His voice- his voice had gotten deeper, hungrier.   
“When you killed.” The sharp inhale, his pupils were blown and the eyes they adored seemed to glow in the low light of the room.   
“Byleth.” His hand went from their back to their hip, moving so they laid flat, Seteth climbing over them, between their legs. “Does the thought of me, violent, arouse you?” It did, goddess help them it did. A whine bubbled up from their throat and Seteth replied with a searing kiss.   
“Tell me professor.” Sinful- the way he said their title was nothing sort of sinful. “Is it violence that arouses you, or is it my strength?” His muscles flexed under his skin, they could feel it under their hands, grasping at his shoulders as he bent, bitting their neck once more.  
“Does it make you wet, knowing my power?” Vulgar- when was he ever so vulgar? He was so mean, teasing like this-  
“I can smell it. You’re wet for me.” They cried out as his fingers slid down, brushing the curls between their legs, teasing above their sex. Too much- it was too much! The burning was back in full force and they needed more contact more something, more of Seteth.

“Shhh.” He crooned, pulling back, looking down, glowing in the low light, eyes bright and power rippling through him as he reached nearby, a small vial of oil uncorked and dripped onto his cock.   
“Please.” It was the first time they saw his cock in all it’s glory. Thick- at least three fingers wide. And the length was longer than their entire hand. He was truly made of something magical to be so perfect, so delicious looking, so handsome and sexual and sensual and-   
His hand ran up and down his shaft, the oil making it glisten as it bobbed up with each stroke. The head a dark red, flushed with blood, and the thatch of green hair at the base wild and unkept- a contrast to his smooth locks. It was divine to gaze upon. They could stare at it for hours, admiring the way it throbbed in the air, the veins that stood out, the way his balls hung heavy and promising of something wicked to follow the pleasure of being stretched and filled with him…

“Please,” the whine was high pitched and loud, a keen as they lifted their hips, trying to entice a man who had long ago made the decision to wait for the right moment.  
That moment had come and gone, and now, under the ruins of Zanado, in the temple dedicated to sacred unions- Seteth would have what he desired.   
“You look so pretty laying there, in the throes of your heat.” His hand on their breast made another high keen leave them, hips bucking trying to feel any friction, any relief. “Flush with desire, wet and begging to be bred as our kind once did so long ago.” Legs pulled apart, they started to tremble in anticipation.  
“As my love commands.” A whisper, a promise as he slowly pushed in, stretching them open, making them cry out in bliss as an orgasm stole reason. Never had they found release from penetration alone before- but they also had never felt this way before. His own moan was low and drawn out as he pushed deeper and deeper, each inch of his cock rubbing hyper sensative walls that fluttered around him, trying to coax seed before he was willing to provide it. The feeling of him thrusting in seemed to stretch for an eternity, as when Seteth finally had hilted himself, they saw beads of sweat on his brow, the muscles in his arms tight as he held them up and legs apart. 

“Good.” He gasped as hips rolled, pelvic muscles trying to act on instinct, to entice and encourage their act of primal union. “You’re so good to me- oh Goddess, you’re so good to me Byleth.” The slow draw of his hips back sent them into a soft cry. The drag of his cock as he pulled back delicious agony. Then as the tip was left in he slowly thrust back inside, repeating the drawn out pleasure. Over and over he took his time, making them shake and spasm, begging for more. More friction, more touch, more fire even as they burned now- without pain.

Legs put over his shoulders, they were bent, the angle sending Seteth deep inside them to the point they swore they could feel him in their core.  
“Byleth.” Their name, a sacred prayer on his lips. “I love you.” 

Screams of pleasure rocketed through the ruins as the wet slap of skin to skin filled the room. Hard powerful strokes had them gripping Seteth’s shoulders for stability as he grunted, hips going faster than they could keep up. This was what they wanted. To be stretched out, used, fucked and bred within an inch of their life. To have those powerful muscles used to dominate them and force them to submit and take this carnal act as instinct demanded.

Mouths clashed and lips bruised in heated kiss, fingers dug into skin as he held tight, unwilling to let go. Byleth wanted the small pains- they wanted to be reminded just who they chose- and who had chosen them.

Over and over his cock punished them in a perfect way, spearing into them so deep their body trembled in anticipation for the cum that would fill them. One orgasm came without warning, a scream of his name into the open air, echoing and ringing out as he fucked them through it, not allowing a moment’s rest as he forced the pleasure upon them. 

The next orgasm built soon after, Byleth babbling as they couldn’t stop him from his attentioned, couldn’t tell him to wait until their body caught up to their mind. It didn’t matter however, so long to pleasure they simply fell back, limp and pliant, accepting as he fucked them back to that burning edge of bliss- and then flung them off the edge with a simple moan of their name.   
The final release was soon after, the sweat on Seteth’s brow dripping down his face and neck as he clenched his jaw, fighting his own release. Yet the sight of him losing control, of eyes wide and focused wholy on them; the gasp and entire shudder of his body as they felt his cock twitch and throb inside them before the hot cum pumped into their waiting core, drawn deep by eager muscles that worked to milk him for every drop he might provide...  
It was a beautiful sight- and it sent them into their final release, eyes locked with his, his name a gasp as hands held onto him, their world consisting in that moment of nothing but him and the feeling of their bodies as one. 

His body lowered, moving them both as they felt back to reality, pillows and sheets tangling under them as they fell into the soft haze of afterglow.   
No more burning, no more pain. Just a sweet throb of sexual release, the hum under their skin of satisfaction.

How long did they linger in a place not wholly rooted in their own bodies- merely ethereal tracing over one another’s forms with feather light caress? It was impossible to say, yet when Seteth pulled out, the warm trickle of hsi seed followed, and they sighed at the loss. Yet so much remained inside them- a feeling of knowing that he’d filled them up and their body had greedily taken it all.   
“Byleth.” His voice was so light, soft and airy as he brushed fingers through sweat slicked hair, pulling it from their still flushed face. “Are you alright?” The unspoken words lingered in the air, heavy with threat and knowledge of what would follow in due time. It was a strange sense of knowing. That soon a life would form from their union, and they would create something new. Not human nor Nabatean. They were the progenitor god after all. Eventually they would be called to create. This was the manifest of their need for such.

“Byleth.” So insistent, his command to look upon them said only with their name. “You don’t have to.” His eyes were so sad. So understanding. He was the last of his kind, the last who remembered a time when he was not mere myth and legend, who had not lost himself to hate or to a hope for a revival or return of things which had been lost.   
“I love you.” It hurt them so much, to see the sad knowing in those eyes, to understand his pain so deeply yet know they had caused it. “I love you, but I would never, I could never, make you be who you’re not.”

The kiss was for them both, salty tears running down their face as they looked at the man who had wanted yet hidden it behind cordial smiles and civility. Who had offered them a freedom from the fate that had been chosen for them at the expense of his own heart.  
Kind, caring, so proud yet soft hearted. A man who smiled rarely but with sincerity. The kiss was for them both.

“I know who I am.” They cupped his face, as he smiled, so afraid, so hopeful despite it all.  
“I am not your goddess. Not your creator.” Green eyes glittered, understanding as he laced his fingers with their own, kissing their knuckles as they spoke.   
“I am yours and...” the burning was gone, replaces by a gentle warmth in their chest- not a heartbeat, but their heart all the same. 

“All I want is your love.”


End file.
